New restaurant looks to be a part of the community

New business  Second Babica Hen opens in Dundee, specializes in local ingredients

The restaurant business isnt new for Joe Buck, but in the past few months, he and his wife Cora have opened two new cafés.

Gubancs Pub has been opened for 27 years now, my grandparents opened that in 1976, Joe Buck said. I grew up working at Gubancs and into adulthood. Last year, in December, we opened Babica Hen in the building next door.

While Gubancs is more of a dinner restaurant, Babica Hen specializes in breakfast and lunch. The new Babica Hen, in Dundee, is a hybrid of the two Lake Oswego locations.

Our Babica Hen in Dundee is situated within the Inn at Red Hills, so were doing kind of a Babica Hen but also serving dinner, so its a little bit of both, he said.

The Dundee location will allow the vision Buck has for the restaurant to thrive.

Our philosophy has always been to use the best ingredients we can find. We use everything fresh and local as much as the season will allow, he said. We give folks a good value for their money and we want people to leave filled up and feeling good with the food and service as well. Were especially excited to be in this space in Dundee because we have alongside the restaurant a two-acre garden we will maintain.

He said the garden will only add to their ability to use fresh ingredients.

I think that will work fairly well, he said.

Although the location seems a perfect fit, Buck said they werent looking to open a second location.

Weve been blessed to have a very strong team of people and good managers. Thats enabled us to have this other project, he said. Its a gorgeous space.

The space, which formerly held Paulee, just needs a bit of redecorating, he said, before it was ready to open this month.

Were kind of redecorating it in the Babica Hen style, Buck said. As it is the space works well, it has a lot of elements that are similar to the (other) location, so it almost looks like the Babica Hen without having to do too much otherwise.

Opening the restaurant means the Bucks will now operate the Inn at Red Hills as well.

The restaurant is like the inn, the restaurant provides room service to guests staying at the Inn (and) any catering for anything that goes on; The two are really tied together, he said.

Buck added that theyve been providing excellent hospitality for decades now, so running the inn shouldnt be too difficult.

Were looking forward to bringing that hospitality expertise to the area, he said.

As for the future, Buck said he doesnt have any plans to expand further at this point.

But were certainly excited to be out in Dundee and in Yamhill County, he said. Everyone out in the area has just been so welcoming, the other businesses, other restaurants, wineries and folks in the community. Weve just been overwhelmed with the amount of support weve been receiving.

Babica Hen opened Sunday. For more information, visit www.babicahencafe.com.